


OCtober 2019: The Various Others

by TheLodgersEnthusiast (Morgan_Molliniere)



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Soul Eater, The Glass Scientists (Webcomic)
Genre: I only tagged Soul Eater and Danganronpa because of the AUs, Multi, and some implied relationships, this is mainly original characters tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-12-24 18:03:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 10,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21103700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morgan_Molliniere/pseuds/TheLodgersEnthusiast
Summary: My works for OCtober 2019, featuring my TGS original characters (and some canon characters too).(also there's some Soul Eater + The Glass Scientists AU and Danganronpa + The Glass Scientists AU in there too)





	1. Beginnings - Philomena Archer

**Author's Note:**

> Remember when I said I was gonna muck around and post these works? Well I went and mucked around and did it.
> 
> There are probably a lot of OCs that my readers don't know about in here, but what the hell, we needed more OC content.

It was only at her mother's insistence that Philomena Archer decided to work.

Philomena, honestly, didn't like the arrangement one bit. She would rather have just been helping out at home, trying to keep her younger siblings in line (since Lawrence, her older brother, was in jail). But how could they survive if they went on like this, relying on their now aged parents for income? So it was decided.

To save her from the long search for a job, thankfully, the first rich man she had asked about working for his household took her in. Now she was standing in front of the doot to the house, not knowing what to do after knocking. Which she had already done.

“Greetings,” the butler said when he opened the door. “You are Miss Archer, here for the job, correct?”

“Yes, that's me,” she said, and she instantly hated her accent as she said it.

The butler didn't seem to pay any mind, and ushered her into the house. It was a bit smaller than the other houses in the neighborhood, but from the inside Philomena could see that it was at least big enough to host an average dinner party. She couldn't help herself from looking around as she was led further into the house.

Slowly, it came to her attention that music was playing from one room, to her left. Philomena paused to look inside the room, and caught sight of a grand piano, with two people sitting at the bench. Two women.

Her mouth opened a little. She knew of pianos, but had never seen one like this one before. She took this in for a moment, before noticing the woman playing at the piano. She had, strangely, short hair, and a serious but sweet look on her face. The other woman sitting next to her was staring straight ahead, a placid smile on her face and finer clothes on her body.

All this Philomena watched for a few moments, before the butler took her hand, and pulled her away from the doorway.

“You needn't concern yourself with watching them for now,” he said. “Come along, let's not dilly-dally.”

Philomena was a little miffed, but she didn't press further about who those women were. She was just starting out, after all, and she ought not to be so inquisitive, in order to make a good impression.


	2. Dance - Concord Seire and Zachary Altera

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Partners Seire and Altera talk at the DWMA's anniversary ball.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna wait to introduce Altera until the Soul Eater + TGS AU finished, but y'know, why wait for that? It seems like the series needs one more year at least to finish, anyway.

“Any reason why you aren't on the dance floor?”

Seire looked up at Altera, who had walked over to him holding a plate full of food. He looked back at their EAT classmates, who were busy dancing within the ballroom. Then he shrugged.

“I don't know, just never felt like much of a dancer,” Seire replied.

Altera hummed. “Yeah, me neither.” He poked a fork into his food. “Which is why I've decided to busy myself with eating.” He popped it into his mouth, and Seire looked at him again. He chuckled a little.

“What?”

“You know, they provided chopsticks to eat the Asian food with.”

Altera blushed. “Well, what of it?” he asked. “Just because I eat...whatever this is...”

“Sushi.”

“Yes, that – just because I eat this with a fork doesn't mean I'm an idiot.”

“I never said you were.” A pause. “But now that I think of it–”

“Stop it.” Altera cut him off. Seire allowed himself one last laugh, before he turned his attention once more to the dancers.

“There's one thing you don't see everyday,” he said, pointing at a certain pair. Altera looked at them, and swallowed what he was chewing.

“I'll be damned,” he said. “I didn't think Jekyll would allow himself to dance, much less with Lanyon.”

“A lot of male partners are dancing together,” Seire observed. “The rules of who you dance with are less gendered, at least here. Seems more relaxed.”

“But Jekyll isn't a relaxed person, so it surprised me,” Altera said. “Then again, maybe he's just doing it for his Lanyon.”

Seire tilted his head. “Who knows?”

They both fell into silence for a while, with Seire looking at Altera this time.

“Are you sure you...don't want...?”

Altera looked at him once more. The question died in his throat.

“...Never mind.”


	3. Feast - Franklin Porter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Franklin sits at a dinner. He'd rather be anywhere else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suppose a lot of you don't really know about the OCs I write about. Which is fine, I suppose. I needed to share some of these, anyway.
> 
> (Besides, I'm probably gonna introduce these other OCs into my Weird Feelings series sooner or later, so be sure to look out for that, I guess.)

The way this man was holding the dinner, Franklin thought he must have been showing off his wealth.

It was mostly the food that got him thinking like this, he supposed. Not that the gaudy decorations and the fine clothes hadn't tipped him off, but the thirteen-course meal really did it for him.

By his standards, it was rather tacky, if he could be honest about it.

But he couldn't, so he was left sitting at the table with a bunch of people he barely knew. He did feel like he had eaten his fill at this point, but it wasn't like he could excuse himself from the table either. It was fine, anyway. He could just pretend he cared.

“Mr. Porter, you've been quiet all dinner!” the host said. “Are you enjoying the food?”

Well. He had been singled out.

“Ah, of course I am,” he said, as flawlessly as he could muster. “The turkey is spectacular.”

The host laughed. “That is good to know!” he said. “For a moment I thought you were uncomfortable.”

He was. “Quite the contrary.” He took one more bite of food anyway, and ate it, to make his lie more believable.

“This food is indeed splendid,” another man agreed. A few more people gave their compliments as well, and Franklin ate while beginning to tune out the conversation yet again.

Sure, this dinner was quite fancy. But he would have given anything for a night in a small restaurant with Luckett, or a drink with the Regulars at the Almond Tree. (Or he could be with both of them – he really ought to introduce Luckett to the Regulars sometime.) But he had been invited here, so it would have been rude to turn the host down for something like that, for things like his wants.

That was what it was like to suddenly be one of the influential in London, wasn't it?

The next course came in, and Franklin didn't exactly feel sick, but his stomach turned anyway.


	4. Nature - Adam Frankenstein

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam and his family go out camping, but it doesn't go as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, an OC that those who've been reading my works will probably know about!
> 
> And what's this? An actual TGS character interacting with the OC, and not just appearing in a cameo?

Adam, like his creator, was prone to getting lost in the beauty of nature around him. To be fair to him, it wasn't like it was hard. Nature was simply stunning in all its wonder, or something as trite as that. It was true, anyway. And he loved the stars most of all.

This particular day, Adam had been more excited than anything to take the telescope he had recently bought out onto their camping trip. Frankenstein had agreed, as long as he was the one to carry it all the way to the site. He was happy to oblige, as long as he got to carry it at all.

They reached the camping site at sunset, and had a good dinner before Adam went to set up his telescope. The sound of Frankenstein and Creature talking in the background, as well as the fire's crackling and the crickets' chirping, provided a somewhat soothing atmosphere.

He had just finished setting up the telescope, however, when the sky began to rumble with thunder. He looked up, and then sighed.

The next thing he knew, rain had begun to fall, and he, Frankenstein, and Creature were huddled inside the tent, with Adam clutching the telescope to his chest. Luckily, he had managed to take it inside before the rain came. The three of them were silent for a while, before he looked at Frankenstein and Creature. The latter was looking at him.

“...Are you expecting me to say something about the weather?” he asked.

“I was wondering if you were upset,” Creature replied.

Adam sighed again, mustering a smile. Creature was always so blunt. “I am a little disappointed, yes,” he said. “But nature takes its course, and I should not complain about forces beyond my control.”

Creature placed a hand on Adam's shoulder. “You are allowed to complain,” they told him. “You are right, though, about nature taking its course.”

A peal of thunder sounded outside, and Adam put his hand on top of their hand. As excited as he had been about seeing the stars, he now felt a connection with the storm as well. Maybe Creature felt it, too. Or maybe it was just the lightning.

Either way, nature was taking its course, and he could still get lost in its beauty.


	5. Lost - Flora Cranley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flora receives a visitor. (Danganronpa + TGS AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so it's likely only the Discord people I've been talking to and sending fics to will get this, but basically this is one part of the Danganronpa + TGS AU. I was thinking about whether to include this or not, but I guess if it's for those people who read my work, then why the hell not.
> 
> Also if you've seen Flora in Weird Feelings, then you've probably seen Muriel there too. The other guy in there, he's just a bonus.

Days passed by after the visitors from the Department came to ask about a certain Jack Griffin. Flora didn't remember the man in question, much like her life before the asylum. But she found herself wanting to remember. It was the same way when she had first become aware that her memory had gone.

A deep sadness filled her heart for those days. Being holed up in her room, she couldn't think of anything to do but try to remember. Her memory had been evading her for months, and she wished it would come back again now. The only thing that came to her, though, was a feeling of being lost.

She was lost.

The girl who called herself her friend, Muriel, came back after those days had passed. Flora heard her talking with Dr. Kemp about her condition, how she hadn't improved any. Just because she was blind didn't mean she couldn't hear what they had to say either. Or was it that they did know she could hear them, but they expected her not to care?

(She couldn't blame them, though, if the latter one was the case. Her memory loss and the unsuccessful attempts to recover said memory afterwards had made her quite apathetic to whatever they said now.)

After their talk, Muriel walked inside the room. Flora could hear her walking over to the bed, and sitting down on it. There was silence for a while, before Muriel spoke up.

“I brought a music box,” she said. “I wanted to see what you think.”

“Mm.” She didn't see how the music box would help her situation. She was silent for a while as she heard Muriel move for a bit, before she asked, “Do you really think it'll work? Trying to make me regain my memories like this?”

Muriel shifted on the bed. Then she replied.

“Flora, I don't want to dwell on your lost memories now,” she said. “I miss the past you, but...she's gone.” She took a deep, audible breath, and then went on, “I just want to spend time with you now. If I help bring back your memories, that would be great. But I don't think the you that doesn't remember should be mourned over, or ignored. It's hard for you...isn't it?"

Flora listened to her, and she listened well.

It didn't make her feel like she could remember. But she did at least feel a little less lost.

“It is,” she said. “Thank you.”

“Don't worry about it.” Muriel started cranking the music box, and then let it lay. A sweet, mellifluous song played from the bed, where the music box likely was.

Flora found herself humming along.


	6. Bitter - Agatha Hazel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Agatha always liked the bitter taste of coffee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While this isn't Soul Eater + TGS AU, I'm sure y'all have met Agatha there in The Ruin of the Society. For like, a brief period only, but you know. Have a taste of her in normal universe, then!

Agatha always liked the bitter taste of coffee.

It probably started with her mother's love of it. Her mother Maxine drank the coffee black, like she did; had a cup first thing in the morning, like she did; and had a smile on her face after drinking it, like she did. No wonder, then, that Maxine was the first to support her goal of starting her own coffee house.

(Yes, she wanted to do that. Her friend Callista did tell her she was good at brewing, anyway.)

Her sister Sylvia, on the other hand, didn't understand it. She used to question what was so great about it when she first started drinking coffee, and she couldn't blame her; her little sister wasn't exactly fond of the taste, whether bitter or creamy or somewhat sweet. Agatha always replied that there wasn't anything great about the cup of coffee itself, and that was why she liked it. You didn't have to make a big deal out of enjoying a cup of coffee.

And Sylvia would roll her eyes, as if doubting it. But Agatha learned not to be affected by it. They were sisters, after all.

One day, though, Agatha went out to the garden with a cup of dark coffee, as was her habit on lazy mornings. Sylvia came into the garden with her sketchbook and pencil, but Agatha didn't mind her for a while, preferring the company of the plants and the insects for a while. However, soon she got curious about what Sylvia was sketching, and so she turned and went to see what it was. It was then that Sylvia looked up, and groaned.

“Ugh, you moved,” she said.

“Moved? Why?”

Sylvia slouched over her sketchbook. “I...I was drawing you, but you moved.”

Agatha tilted her head. “Why were you drawing me?”

“Ah...” Sylvia blushed in embarrassment. “...You always come out here with your coffee, and I thought, maybe if I could capture that look on your face...” She finished sheepishly, “...it might be good art for your coffee place.”

Agatha couldn't help laughing. Not in a mean-spirited way, of course, as she made clear a second later.

“I'm sorry, I just thought the idea of a drawing of myself in the coffee house would be a bit pretentious,” she said. “But I appreciate the sentiment. How much did you get?”

Sylvia showed her, and began to tell her about the possibility of her other artworks being put up in her coffee house. And Agatha listened.

She loved the bitter taste of coffee, sure. But it was hard not to love her sister even more.


	7. Tender - Nadeshiko Nakatsukasa and Jose Esperanza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nadeshiko wonders about Jose's gloves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure the people who've read Soul Eater + TGS AU have met Nadeshiko too. Well, here's to show that in normal universe, she's married to a mad scientist. (He's her meister in the SE + TGS AU, but y'know.)

One day, Nadeshiko asked Jose about his gloves.

“Oh, that's right,” he had said, “I never told you the reason why I wear them, haven't I?”

“...If you're uncomfortable–”

“No, no,” he said, waving his hands. “I understand your curiosity, and we have been in a relationship for a long time now. I think you ought to know why I wear them so much.”

Nadeshiko sat closer to him. “And why is that?” she asked.

He sighed. “Once, while studying radiation, I got careless. I forgot about safety and long story short, I exposed my hands to harmful radiation.”

“What, really?” She couldn't hide her surprise, and then concern. “Are they alright?”

“They're fine now,” he assured her. “My skin is just wounded and very sensitive. I can still do many things, but...” He mustered a smile. “I don't want people to see what happened to my hands. They will find it repulsive."

She nodded, and then looked down at his gloved hands, on his lap. He must have noticed her gaze, because he drew his hands back.

“...I know you well enough that I know you want to see what they look like anyway,” he said. “And I know you well enough to know I can't stop your wondering.”

“I wonder, yes, but don't think this is something you have to do.”

“No, I...” Here he laughed a little bitterly. “Maybe I do want you to see, to judge for yourself if it is repulsive.”

And before she could stop him, he was removing his gloves.

The first thing Nadeshiko saw was the marred flesh, no doubt disconcerting to look at. He showed them to her, his face unreadable.

Oh, what else could she do?

Gently, she took his hands, and raised them to her lips, kissing the knuckles and the backs of his hands tenderly. She did this for a few minutes, before holding them to her chest, and coming closer to him.

“I know you well enough to know you want to hear if I still love you,” she said softly. “And I do.”


	8. Storm - Amelia Sinnett

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amelia and her brother talk about a storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Anthony mentioned here, yes, is none other than Sinnett.

Amelia stared out the window of the small house, watching the rain pour out of the sky. She pressed her tiny hands against the window.

“Rain,” she said, causing the other person in the room to look up at her.

“Huh, yes, Amelia,” Anthony said, getting up and walking over to his younger sister. “It's rain.”

“Why is it raining?” she asked.

He looked out the window, and hummed. “I think it's because water comes out of the clouds.”

“Why does water come out of the clouds?”

“...I don't know.” He put a hand to his hip. “I guess I'll read it somewhere.”

She nodded – and a split second later, a bright flash of lightning illuminated the sky, and not long after, a peal of thunder rang outside.

Amelia screamed, and ran away from the window. Anthony watched as she scrambled for the bed and covered herself with the bed sheets. The rain fell harder, and Anthony walked up to her again.

“Is that a monster?” Amelia asked from under the sheets.

“It's thunder and lightning,” Anthony replied. “It's nothing to be afraid of.”

She looked up at him. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “We're safe.” He bent down, and looked her in the eye. “It's just really loud and bright, right?”

Amelia peeked her head out from under the sheets. “If-if you say so.”

Another rumble of thunder came, and Amelia shrank back. But Anthony sat down on the bed with her, and put an arm over her shoulders.

“If it scares you, I'll be here until the storm goes away,” he said.

She nodded. “Thank you,” she said. “And you're really smart.”

He only laughed, and she laughed as well.

But she did think he was smart, she really did.


	9. Study - Aurelia Cruz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurelia has to study for the Exhibition, but gets a bit sidetracked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now y'all have met Aurelia in Freaky Friday, unless I'm wrong about this. She's my Lodgersona.
> 
> Also, coming back to a headcanon I have for Archer.

Aurelia Cruz often took pride in her work...but tonight was not one of the nights when she did.

Today, her work was tedious and boring. She would have given anything to do something else, and really, the only thing stopping her was herself. The only problem with that, however, was that she was the kind of person to not want to stop herself if she was doing something productive no matter how boring it was, as long as it was working towards a goal. And that goal was the Exhibition, so she couldn't stop working, as said Exhibition was only three weeks away.

So tonight, here she was, compiling, transcribing, and organizing the various old documents that she had gathered from the library. Some of these were so old, she had to be careful in handling the paper. And to make matters stranger (and perhaps more difficult), most of these documents were in code. Ah, yes, the threat of witch hunts and stolen research. These factors made Aurelia resent the amount of work a little more.

“Hey, Señorita Cruz?”

Aurelia paused, and then looked up from her work. There was only one person who called her _Se__ñ__orita_ Cruz, and he was standing in the doorway.

“Yes, _Se__ñ__or_ Archer?” she asked. Then she paused. “That sounds a bit strange, right?”

“It's only strange if you make it strange,” Christopher Archer told her, shrugging. “How's your work going?”

“Could be better,” Aurelia replied. “I just cannot concentrate on...this.” She gestured vaguely to the documents in front of her. “My English still isn't the best.”

“Hey, you'll never learn it if you don't practice it.”

“Says the man who seems to be of English blood.”

Archer's smile froze. “Well...just because I _seem_ to be of English blood doesn't mean I had the easiest time of it.” Then he gestured to her work as well. “You have a dictionary though, right?”

Aurelia nodded, and then pushed up her glasses. “Mr. Archer, you haven't told us about your family–”

“Despite you and some others knowing about my blood, sort of?” Archer finished for her.

She studied his face as he spoke. It was hesitant, unwilling to break.

“They will gossip about it, you know,” she said. “They might even look into it.”

Archer looked away. It was then that she knew she would rather talk about this than her work, at least...

...Even if it was making him uncomfortable?

Why was he uncomfortable?


	10. City - William Grye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This certainly is a strange city. (Danganronpa + TGS AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized that if I'm gonna be doing this, I'm gonna have to post everything, spoilers and all. So uh, yeah. You could call this a preview to yet another DR + TGS AU thing I'm doing right now, but I'll only post it when I feel the story's ready.
> 
> Grye and Beatriz belong to my friend PleonasmicBird (AccursedParoxysm here if I'm not mistaken), however I have adopted Grye months prior and he now seems to be more my OC? That's how adopting OCs go, right?
> 
> And actually, in case anyone was wondering, Grye is actually a Bill Nye equivalent OC for TGS. Think like a buddy for Bryson.

To put it simply, this new city they were in was very strange.

There were no people in this new city, save for the fifteen people that were brought to said city, and Utterson, who brought them there. Not to mention, there was no sign of any maps in the hotel, and therefore no way of knowing what exactly this city was.

Grye thought about this as Beatriz was currently obtaining a parasol from the emporium (which had been connected to the hotel; rather fortunate for Beatriz, considering she insisted she walk in the shade as she was sensitive to sunlight).

As she walked over to a few of them, Grye looked at Maxine and said, “You do think this is a little strange, don't you?”

She looked up at him. “Hm?”

“I mean,” he went on, “I'm trying to give Mr. Utterson and this trip the benefit of the doubt, but there are quite a lot of things here that don't make sense.”

“Like how we were able to get here?”

“That and the deserted, yet fully stocked emporium. The same could go for the rest of the city.”

Beatriz had now found a working parasol, and walked past them with it in hand, urging them to follow. Maxine and Grye followed after her as the latter continued to speak.

“I've been trying to hide my reservations about this place from Miss Alatore, since she's already so suspicious on her own,” he said. “Besides, I want to believe Mr. Utterson means no harm, like he says.”

Maxine scratched the back of her ear. “Well, I do think the existence of this city is strange. Almost as if...coming from a dream.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

But she shook her head, and instead questioned, “Are you more concerned about the place we're in, or why we're here?”

Grye looked back forward as they walked towards the exit. Beatriz was already opening the parasol on her way out. He and Maxine walked through as well, before he smiled.

“I assume you want to know because you too want to believe this trip is beneficial to us,” he said.

Maxine chuckled. “Here we go again!” she said. “We never answer each other's questions in a straightforward way.”

Grye couldn't help laughing as well. “No, we do not,” he replied.

And they walked on in silence for some time, with Grye wondering about his answer to Maxine's question.

But, he supposed it didn't matter. No matter how strange the city and this situation was, he was glad to have her here.


	11. Obsess - Barbara Harper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Freedom was the only thing she knew she wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In here goes a headcanon that I'm pretty sure is a little far-fetched.

Barbara Jackson – no, Griffin – no, _Harper_ now–

–she had been obsessed with the notion of being free for a long time. Free from her parents' restrictions, free from being tied down by her obligations to her family, free, free, free; it was what she wanted.

It was the only thing she knew she wanted.

So when she saw her chance to rid herself of everything that was holding her back, she took it and never looked back.

Well, that last part was a lie, at least. She did look back, but only to see if anyone was going to follow her. No one did. That was good, good, good. No one to stop her from doing what she felt she needed to do.

She struggled in London for a time, trying to find a breakthrough in her science with the smallest amount of funds to support her. She looked back again. Still, no one was following her. Still, no one was looking for her.

Still, no one was looking out for her.

And that was fine, fine, fine, she supposed. She only had her freedom to support her, and freedom was enough for her.

She made it, eventually – made a big finding that propelled her into the public eye, into fame. And then she was meeting people, being around people, talking to people. Fear set in again. She looked over her shoulder. No one was holding it – she was free.

It was then seven years of this, seven years of more scientific achievements and more people that she always kept a few feet away emotionally from herself, so they wouldn't hold her.

Seven years of freedom.

And when those seven years had passed, she met her son Jack again.

Of course, he didn't recognize her. He was so small when she left, and now he had grown. He had grown past wanting her, or needing her. He walked past her.

And she looked over her shoulder at him.

And suddenly it wasn't anyone holding her. It was he pride, her fear, her obsession with being free that were holding her back.

But she was free. She loved being free.

It was the only thing she knew she wanted.

Right?


	12. Waiting - Nadeshiko Nakatsukasa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nadeshiko waits for what will happen to her Jose. (Soul Eater + TGS AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nadeshiko's husband Jose is indeed part of the SE + TGS AU. They're still married, but they're meister and weapon. In fact, I'm willing to wager Jose was the one who made Nadeshiko a Death Scythe.
> 
> Natsume is Nadeshiko's twin sister who died in action.

Nadeshiko couldn't believe that she was doing something like this.

When Natsume died, she was given the mercy of not having been around it. It was described in the official reports that she had later been able to access as a Death Scythe, and while reading them she had felt a bit horrified. But she could detach herself from it. Her imaginings of the event were nothing to fear, and Natsume's body had come back in one piece, after all.

But here and now, she had seen Jose be wheeled into surgery – right before he had disappeared from her sight, she could see blood everywhere. And was Nadeshiko going to have to be there when he died?

She had seen Lord Death send Jose on that mission. They were both convinced that he would be able to defeat the kishin egg he was assigned to. They did not expect Jose to wind up in critical condition.

He was in a hospital now, though. The doctors were doing what they could to save him, and Nadeshiko knew that her Jose was tough. But she couldn't stop herself from worrying while she waited for the surgery to end.

He could die at any moment.

But she supposed they knew that was what they signed up for when they let themselves into the DWMA's service, into Lord Death's forces. They could die anytime. They had to accept that.

And yet she curled into herself, trying to console herself with that. Only trying.

She knew what she was doing when she allowed herself to love Jose, to enter into a relationship with him, then finally marry him. She knew what it would cost her emotionally, if he did die here.

She was going to have to pay up, wasn't she?

Nadeshiko covered her face with her hands. This was what she had warned herself against when she was younger. Allowing herself to feel love, pain, grief, when Death surrounded and permeated their culture.

But, remembering how her Jose was, did she regret loving him?

If only she had told him she loved him before he left.

Before she knew it, the doctor came out from the surgery, and said the words that finally made her burst into tears.

“He's going to live.”

They were tears of relief.


	13. Play - Jeremiah Lawton and Baruch Adamson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremiah and Baruch go see a play, and find someone there whom they didn't expect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jeremiah and Baruch (or, Jerry and Barry for short) are the bartenders of a pub that many mad scientists, as well as those interested in mad science, frequent. In fact, their pub is the setting of Flora and Griffin's meeting in Weird Feelings. They just happen to be having a day off at the moment.
> 
> Also, the Jonathan they speak of is actually Luckett. They just don't know it.

“You know, when you said we should 'get to know mad science a little better', this wasn't exactly what I had in mind.”

“Come on, Jeremiah, it's just a mad science play,” Baruch said. “Don't other mad scientists like to see this sort of production?”

“Yes, but–” Jeremiah looked once more at the poster, “–The Mad Galvinist? Isn't that a little crude?”

“It's only crude if you think it is,” Baruch told him. “Besides, for a person concerned about that, didn't you abandon judging things the moment you came to terms with the fact that you were once a rich kid pretending to be a street urchin for the hell of it?”

Jeremiah laughed. “You're never going to let me live that down, are you?” He looked up, and then paused.

Baruch looked up at him. “What is it?”

Jeremiah pointed in the direction of the people in line to pay for the show. Baruch looked, and his eyes widened. It was a familiar face.

“Isn't that...Mr. Porter?” Baruch asked.

“And he's accompanied by somoene,” Jeremiah added. “Doesn't look like the average rich person he would spend time around, either.”

“...” Baruch watched the subjects of their interest disappear into the theater. He stared after them for a moment, before Jeremiah put a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey,” he said. “We should probably go inside now.”

“At the risk of him realizing we could see him with his friend that we don't know?”

“For all we know, it could be fine,” he replied.

Baruch put a hand on his hip, and then sighed. “Well, a little intrigue never hurt anyone,” he said, before walking forward, with Jeremiah following after him.

“The man Mr. Porter was with,” Jeremiah said, “could he be...?”

“The Jonathan he speaks so much about? Probably.”

A chuckle. “Well, if it turns out we're going to see a play alongside Mr. Porter and his Jonathan, then I blame you should we regret this.”

“That's a little harsh.”

Another chuckle.


	14. Scream - Monica Flores

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some days, Monica felt like screaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember Monica from In The End (Danganronpa + TGS AU)? Yeah, this is her.

Some days, Monica felt like screaming.

No one could blame her for that, probably. There was the fact that she lived and worked in the Society for Arcane Sciences, where there was something to scream about at nearly every corner. From sudden explosions to invisible mice in the kitchen, as well as ghosts that showed up at the worst times; Monica just felt like yelping at the very least whenever those showed up. Most times she did, anyway.

And then there was the matter of Edward Hyde. Hyde loved to cause a lot of ruckus around the Society whenever he chose to be out and about within the building. At least in this aspect, Monica was sure she wasn't the only one who wanted to shout profanities at the man. Mr. Griffin had done it a couple of times.

As of now, though, the current thing that made her want to scream was one of the guests the Society was housing.

A strange thing to think that Frankenstein, the mad scientist long thought dead for thirty years, was alive all along! And even more strange was that the Creature she had made and loathed now stood by her side, even as she decked the founder Dr. Jekyll in his face. But perhaps the strangest thing of all was that they were not alone – Frankenstein had created another, and he stood by their side as well right now.

The second creation was named Adam Frankenstein. Unlike Frankenstein's hot temper and the Creature's cold aloofness, he was soft-hearted and warm towards everyone. Of course, he had picked up some traits from the two of them, but somehow it was overshadowed by his inclination to be nice.

Monica liked that about him. Monica liked him.

So why did she want to scream?

Because she knew she would never be as close to him as Rachel and Jasper were.

And it was more than just him not returning her affections. As much as it hurt, she could deal with that. But the fact of the matter was that she was only a side character in their story, in his story, not even worth a footnote. When he left, he wouldn't remember her.

Yes, he would never remember her while she would never forget him.

Some days, Monica felt like screaming.

But in this case, maybe a good cry would do, too.


	15. Wild - Penelope Nettle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lady thief dreams of a woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Penelope Nettle is actually the real name of Ares from SE + TGS AU.
> 
> And you can tell I didn't even try in this one.

The Forty Elephants were a feared group of women thieves, and a lot of them were pretty sure Penelope Nettle was one of those to be feared the most.

Sure, she was simply a thief, but there were times when one could see the danger lurking behind her eyes, the steadiness in her hands as she wielded a gun, the intimidation on her lips as she spoke. It was almost as if her presence was fearsome.

And she was aware of it, too. She knew about the fear on other people's faces when she passed them by. It was, perhaps, a far cry from the fear she had felt back when she had been struggling to survive – but those days were behind her now. Now people were afraid of her, and her wild ways.

All except her fellow thieves, and...a certain woman.

Penelope couldn't get that woman out of her head. She looked like she had a steadiness in her life that wild Penelope lacked. She looked...calm when she had suddenly run into her, when her appearance screamed “unruly thief”.

And that woman saw her on the run from the police. She could have stopped her. But she didn't.

That woman was nothing like her fellow thieves. sure, some of them were stoic like that woman was. You had to be a bit stoic in order to be a good thief, after all. But there was a sort of wildness in the thieves and in her, that this woman she was thinking of didn't have. She was like a rock, with firmness in her eyes.

(God. She was thinking of what was in someone's _eyes_ now?)

She had to find this woman, in order to finally get her out of her mind. (Or maybe have a little fling? But who would have a fling with a thief?) Either way, she had to get this out of her system right away.

But she didn't know how.

She supposed it would have to wait for when they met again.

(Which they would.)


	16. Safety - Daniel Carten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The head of the Department hires mad scientists, and Daniel doesn't like it. (Danganronpa + TGS AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all probably know Carten (or not) from the SE + TGS AU. Here he is, in DR + TGS AU, alongside what seems to be the equivalent of the Future Foundation in the AU. Yeahhhhhhhh.

As one of the people on board the Department Against the Dangers of Mad Science, Daniel Carten didn't know what to think when the head of the Department, Franklin Porter, let a group of mad scientists into their ranks.

Many others in the Department were on the same boat, and no one could blame them. They had seen the various horrors that the other mad scientists had come up with; how could they trust _these_ ones not to go crazy and do even more horrifying things? Porter had surely lost his mind! Wasn't he thinking of the safety of everyone in London?

Well, Daniel assumed that Porter felt some sort of pity and guilt towards these scientists. They were the survivors of that horrible killing game that had taken place within the Society for Arcane Sciences. As such, they had gone through some terrible things, and maybe Porter thought he could compensate by giving them spots on the Department.

But wasn't it enough to reveal what had happened at the Society? Why make them part of the Department operations?

So, Daniel did what the naysayers and gossipmongers within the Department didn't do.

He asked Porter himself.

“Well, to start, they needed new jobs,” Porter replied.

“What, really?” Daniel asked.

Porter smiled, and waved a hand. “I'm kidding, though they definitely did need some,” he said. “I hired them because they're some of the best people for this Department.”

Daniel crossed his arms. “How so?”

“They're mad scientists,” Porter replied. “Who better to dismantle a mad scientists rebellion? Not to mention, they stopped the instigators of this Disaster. I can trust them to want the Disaster to end as much as I do, if that's what you're afraid of.”

He hit the nail right on the head.

Before Daniel could say anything else, Porter finished, “Besides, if they were able to stop the masterminds who eluded our grasp for so long, then how much more can they stop the rebels? And he flashed another smile. “I trust them with the safety of London, because they're good people. Believe me.”

And Daniel wanted to, he really did.


	17. Childhood - Callista Redrowe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As a child, Callista had only a few friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, a Callista drabble - and a drabble where she isn't being an antagonist, too!

As a child, Callista Redrowe only had a few friends. It was to be expected, probably. Her grandparents expected her to live up to certain expectations, so she didn't get to interact with a lot of her peers. However, there were a few exceptions, and two of these were the Hazel siblings.

Like the Redrowes, the Hazels were old money, and their eldest son had already had children of his own. So naturally, Callista's grandparents wanted to bring her along while they visited them, to let her get to know some other children close to her age. (Well, that, and maybe show off how pretty a child she was.)

The wife was the first to greet them. She had with her little Agatha, who seemed a little shy around the visitors. She looked at Callista, and their eyes met. She suddenly felt curious to see this person who was almost as small as she was.

Before they could do anything, however, the wife led them inside, and Callista went in with her grandparents. The house itself didn't leave much of an impression on her mind – it was just the same as her own house, anyhow: big, stately, and lonely.

The adults left Callista with Agatha while they continued to cha about various things Agatha looked at her again, but then looked away not too long after. At that moment, Callista felt a little discouraged at not knowing what to say to her. After all, she was a little shy herself.

It was that way, with the children in silence for a while, before a shrill “Mum!” rang out through the room – it was meant for the wife. They all looked up to see a little boy waddle up to her, barefoot, and she turned towards the child, crouching down to his level. It appeared he couldn't find where his socks were.

Callista stared at him over his mother's shoulder, and he looked at her. Then he waved at her. As the wife's apology and introduction of him showed, this was Julius Junior, the second Hazel child. After a while, she told them to wait while she went to look for socks.

That left the children and the Redrowes in the sitting room, with Callista looking again at Agatha and Julius. The latter waved at her again, as if not knowing what else to do. But Callista smiled.

Her childhood experience had been shaped by having the Hazel siblings (actually, daughters, as she would later find out) as friends. Now that she had them, she didn't think she could ask for more.

(She would, however, find herself asking for more eventually.)


	18. Clean - Sylvia Hazel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The canvas in front of her was a little too clean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can guess from one of the previous chapters, Sylvia is Agatha's little sister.

The canvas in front of Sylvia was clean, and she didn't like that.

This was the problem that all artists faced at some point in their creative lives, she guessed. Being unable to think of a single thing to put on their canvas or even on a piece of paper, things like that. And yet, that didn't console her. It was just kind of frustrating.

And yet, even as she stared at the blank canvas before her, several ideas came to mind.

Should she paint nature, or still life? No, she didn't feel like that today. Should she paint a person? Who could she ask to provide her with a reference? Should she paint herself? No, she didn't like her own face.

Sighing, she lowered her paintbrush, and slouched over on the stool. It seemed that there were many ideas that were coming, but she seemed to reject every single one. And her damned canvas was still clean.

Sylvia placed the paintbrush on the table beside the canvas, and then rested her head in her hands. She exhaled again, and then closed her eyes.

And then sniffed.

Maybe she should take a bath.

But taking a bath was kind of inconvenient at the moment, wasn't it? Not to mention...

At the same time, she didn't feel so clean herself. At least, not as clean as the canvas in front of her. And she hadn't showered in a long time, by her standards. (And if it was by her standards, then it must be really bad.)

She opened her eyes. Maybe sitting in the bath would help clear her mind. Sometimes it did, anyway.

With that, Sylvia got up, wiped her hands on her apron, and then hung it on the wall before leaving the room. Maybe it was alright that the canvas was clean. Maybe some days it was alright to bathe.

Some days, she needed clean.


	19. Rival - Maxine Conklin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maxine sees that her new girlfriend has found herself a rival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ..............did I not tell you all I shipped Frankenstein with one of my OCs? Oops. This is based on a little fanfiction that I didn't share on here, so uh. Yeah.
> 
> This drabble series seems to be leaking everything about my OCs into the mainstream, though it's not like I care that much. It's gonna go out there later anyway.
> 
> Once again, Grye is an OC I adopted from Pleonasmic-Bird.

“My name is William Grye.” A hand was extended. “It's a pleasure to meet you.”

“I am Victoria Frankenstein.” A pause, before the extended hand was shook. “Likewise.”

Maxine smiled as she saw the two of them introduce themselves. For some time, she had wanted Frankenstein and Grye to meet each other. They did, after all, mean quite a lot to her both. And they were both scientifically minded too, so they could get along just fine, right?

But as they released each other's hands, Maxine could see very clearly a venom in Frankenstein's eyes that she wasn't hiding very well. She watched as Grye spoke up first.

“I must say, you are quite different from the Frankenstein that is depicted in the book,” he began.

“Not so different,” Frankenstein replied. “Only that the editors took liberties with changing my identity, and embellished some details.”

“I see.” Grye nodded. “Maxine has spoken a great deal about you to us, you know. She gets excited to tell us all about what you say in your letters.”

“All good things, I hope,” she said, with none of the cheeriness that people normally used when they said those words. “I heard many things about you others, as well.”

“That's good to know.” Grye was carefree, as always. Either he couldn't pick up on Frankenstein's suspicious tone, or he was choosing to ignore it. (Maxine was willing to bet on the latter, knowing him.)

As they continued talking, Maxine watched them carefully, hoping things wouldn't get ugly. She hadn't seen Frankenstein's temper up close yet, and she hoped she wouldn't have to here, now that Frankenstein considered Grye her rival.

It sort of made sense, she guessed. Grye was one of her closest friends, and they did have romantic history, both of which she had told Frankenstein about. And Frankenstein could be jealous that he was so close to her, even now.

But to consider him a rival...that was sort of silly. Maxine and Grye hadn't thought of each other that way in a long, long time. Frankenstein should know that, too. It wasn't worth getting worked up over, at least in her opinion.

(Though she guessed it was a little cute, too.)


	20. Trick - Carmela Rousette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmela didn't like tricks, but her girlfriend was a liar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Carmela is Callista's girlfriend, basically speaking. Or was, in the SE + TGS AU.
> 
> Also get ready for something I put in normal universe!Callista's story that is potentially weird.

Carmela didn't like any tricks of any sort.

It was just the kind of person she was. She knew that if people were being dishonest with her, she wouldn't be fine with it. Sure, the truth could hurt, but she had been hurt even more by lies.

And yet, here she was, spending time with one of the biggest liars she had ever known.

Callista had her moments of honesty, to be fair. With Carmela and the Hazel sisters, Callista had more reason to be honest than not to be. She was close with them, after all (and in the case of Agatha and Sylvia, she had known them since childhood). So during these times, Callista had no reason to play tricks or invent lies. Not to them.

However, for the times Carmela had been around Callista when she had to be a “respectable rich lady”, she could sense the facade that she put up for them. Fake a smile, laugh, try not to get emotional even if the situation called for it. It was one big trick, and Carmela couldn't comprehend how Callista lived her life like this.

It was one thing to not be able to comprehend her lover's lifestyle, sure.

But this portrait...this was beyond any tricks that Carmela had ever seen before.

This portrait, that hid all of Callista's flaws from view and took them all upon itself, as well as her aging...how did this happen? Did Sylvia, the painter, know about this?

Callista had begged her to keep it a secret.

To indulge in a lie. To play a trick.

Carmela loved Callista. But Carmela hated tricks.


	21. Heist - Petra Jones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Petra didn't understand why she was thinking so much about a thief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm probably gonna have to post 10 of these in one go, yikes.
> 
> This is a companion piece to Wild, one of the earlier drabbles.

Petra had been there when that thief carried out the heist. Or rather, she had been there when the thief had made her escape. She had heard a window smash, a police siren, and the sound of footsteps on the pavement. She had become frozen on the spot, and she looked to the fence beside her.

And then she saw the thief – it was a woman wearing a veil over her face, jumping over the fence, a bag in her hands. She landed on her knee the pavement, and made a pained noise. Petra was a nurse – she could tell that the thief had probably skinned her knee.

She could have caught her and brought her to the police, right then and there.

But something in Petra made her freeze as the thief turned to her. And without any hesitation, then she stepped aside, letting the thief escape.

It was a strange moment, one that got Petra thinking for a few days on end now. She thought to herself, why did she let the thief escape? Was it simply shock that made her react that way? Or was it something else, something like the injury, the fear that that could evoke?

Petra thought herself a law-abiding citizen. But she had let a criminal escape, and now her conscience was bothering her about it. And what's more, it bothered her so much that she didn't tell her brother William about it. And she told him everything!

It was as if in addition to the thief stealing...whatever she stole...she stole Petra's interest, too.

...Well, not like it mattered. Maybe this would all blow over, maybe she would forget her, and her brain would bury it back into the depths of her mind.

It wasn't like the thief would remember her anyway, right?

(Wrong.)


	22. Stars - Adam Frankenstein

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam definitely likes the Society's observatory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say here, other than my boy likes stars. And Bryson is here, since I needed practice writing him.

“I see you've taken an interest in our observatory,” Bryson said.

Adam looked up at him, and grinned, a little shyly. “Uh, yes, I am,” he said. He put his hands together. “Am I not supposed to be here?”

“Why, of course you can come here,” Bryson told him. “Anyone can come here and appreciate the beauty of space. You're welcome here.” Then he put his hands in his jacket pockets. “Though, I didn't know you had an interest in the cosmos, Mr. Frankenstein.”

“I do not look like it, do I?” Adam asked. “But I actually prefer this over Frankenstein's alchemy. I can't create formulas or discover new ways to obtain certain elements, but I can apparently chart stars, locate planets, and...other things.”

Bryson chuckled. “There's nothing wrong with 'other things'.” He led Adam over to one of the larger telescopes in the observatory. “Here. Let me show you this.”

Adam put his hands up. “Oh, I could not possibly...”

But he was in front of the telescope before he knew it, and Bryson was now inviting him to check it out with a wave of his hand. At this point, Adam decided it would be ruder to refuse. So he stepped up to it, and took a look into the eyepiece.

And there, from the view of that telescope, were more stars than he could count. Adam's jaw dropped, while Bryson chuckled again.

“I'm going to assume that you like it,” he said. “Jekyll let me install this in the Society as long as I paid for most of it. So I did.”

“This is incredible,” Adam said, adjusting the view of the telescope to other stars, other planets, other moons. “I have never seen them with a telescope this powerful before.”

“And we can still do much more,” Bryson said. “I can't wait for the upcoming progress in astronomy.”

Adam was pretty sure he was getting starry-eyed at the prospect.

“Me too.”


	23. Hug - Muriel Lewis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Muriel wondered what it would be like to embrace Flora.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops it's gay

Muriel wondered what it was like to embrace Flora.

Sure, she could probably hug her; they were close friends, after all. But Flora needed to give consent before Muriel or anyone else could do that. It was just the way things were for Flora, since she was blind: whenever anyone wanted to initiate that kind of contact with her, she had to know, lest she panic at the contact. And Muriel was a little worried that Flora would reject her, after all.

No matter how well they knew each other, Muriel was always going to be a social class below Flora. She was the helper, and Flora was her boss. It would be absurd to think about things like that.

That was why Muriel felt a little uncomfortable whenever Flora was initiating the contact with someone else, especially towards people Muriel didn't like (a certain Jack Griffin comes to mind). For them to receive her affection while Muriel couldn't even bring herself to ask for it...

Then again, she supposed that that was just the jealousy talking. Flora had every right to give others that she liked physical affection, and she had every right to be able to do that without Muriel policing who she could and couldn't do that with.

Still...there was the part of her that longed for it, and wanted to hold her so tightly...and maybe kiss her...maybe do things with her that would definitely make her father red with anger...

God, where were these thoughts coming from? She shouldn't be thinking such obscene things, the fact that she was thinking about hugging her was bad enough!

The knowledge that these thoughts were improper and bad didn't deter them from entering her mind a lot now. In fact, every time she looked at Flora, they were only made worse.

Muriel didn't know how to make them go away. She just busied herself with helping Flora, wishing that someday, maybe Flora would initiate the contact on her own.

After all, it couldn't hurt to dream.


	24. Search - William Jones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> William can't stop thinking about a certain woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all remember William was in Weird Feelings, right?
> 
> Anyway, sorry if this makes y'all uncomfortable because it veers into creepy territory. I just have the feeling that guys do this, and from what I hear, they do.

For the days that followed their meeting, William Jones just wouldn't shut up about the woman he had met.

“I'm telling you, Petra, she was an angel!” William told his sister. “Can you imagine, a woman coming over to talk to me?”

“I could imagine it, if you'd stop being a bit odd about it,” Petra told him.

“Is that another one of your jokes?” he asked. But then he waved it off. “Well, no matter. I think I should try to find her.”

“Do you know her name?”

“Uh...”

“...You don't, do you?”

“Well–” he scratched the back of his head, “–she did tell me that she was an experimental investigator! There are plenty of those at that Society down on Broadwick Street, right?”

“The Society that that Dr. Jekyll heads? Are you sure?” Petra asked. “It might be a little...” And she gestured vaguely with her hands.

“It's the only hope I have of seeing her again,” he said.

“Or you could just let fate take its course and not seem like a person with malicious intentions,” she replied.

“It's not malicious, it's love!”

Petra only sighed, resting her chin in her hands. “Why are men like this...?” she asked, sadly shaking her head.

William had decided, though. He wanted to find the woman he had been thinking about for days on end. And if she was at the Society, then maybe they could meet again, maybe they could talk again.

And it wasn't like he couldn't do any of those things. His boss was going there tomorrow, after all, and as his driver, he was coming with him.


	25. Light - Barbara Harper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A journal entry detailing how a certain someone messed up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really used to writing journal entries, man.
> 
> Again with the headcanons, Carol.
> 
> And also this has barely anything to do with light save for a reference to it, but yknow.

_26 October, 18– _

<strike> _I met him_ </strike>

<strike> _I_ </strike>

_I messed up._

_One could say that I'm a fool for messing up in the first place, but I should say that I'm an even bigger fool for only realizing it twenty-three years from that day. But either way, I was a fool._

_I met my son today. (I never thought I would find myself say those words.) I was surprised to meet him on my trip to the Society for Arcane Sciences; even more surprised to learn that he was one of the scientists under Dr. Jekyll's watch. And of course, he had to be studying light, like I was._

_Of course, aether spectroscopy and disapparative biochemistry are two very different things. Yet they both have to do with the way light passes through matter. And he plans to give objects and even living creatures the refractive index of air, rendering them invisible. He's already managed to achieve it with mice._

_Is it wrong to say I'm proud of him? I know I can't act like his mother when that's a responsibility I've been escaping for decades now. It's too late to act like the mother he didn't have. Maybe I'm not proud of him, maybe this is simply the awe one feels for their fellow scientists._

_Because that's all he is now: a fellow scientist._

_It's not like he recognizes me as his mother, anyway. Perhaps he doesn't need anyone to act like a mother for him. And even if he did, it isn't like I could be the one to fill that role. I'm simply ill-equipped to be a mother._

_That seems to be the excuse I made even back then. No matter. Hopefully this will all disappear and he won't even know of my true identity._


	26. Dark - Jose Esperanza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was too dark for Jose to fall back asleep. (Soul Eater + TGS AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is certainly a continuation to Waiting, a previous drabble.

Jose woke up in a cold sweat. He wiped the sweat from his face, and then looked around. It was still dark out. He then sighed.

Of course, he shouldn't be so scared of waking up in the middle of the night from a nightmare, alone. He shouldn't mind that Nadeshiko was at the Academy, doing paperwork late at night. He should just go back to sleep and forget the nightmare ever happened.

But as he laid his head back down onto the pillow, it was too dark. Too dark for him to banish these scary thoughts, too dark for him to put his mind to rest. He gripped the bed sheets tighter.

If only Nadeshiko were here...

He shut his eyes, but not for long before he opened them again. In the darkness, he could make out the outline of the kishin egg, the one that attacked and nearly killed him. It seemed to be watching him.

He stared at it a little longer, before he was able to make out that it was just some silhouettes of the furnishings in the room. He sighed, and then closed his eyes again, curling into himself.

The scars on his body ached dully, and he tried to keep his eyes shut, to not allow his fear to take over. It would just be too much for him to bear.

But the pain was real, and his injuries had been real, the very threat of him losing his life then had been real–

Tears pricked at his eyes, and he finally opened them again. Jose guessed that this would be the part when he would admit that he couldn't sleep, and probably stay awake to meet Nadeshiko when she came home.

He relaxed a little, and then turned onto his back to stare at the ceiling.

It was too dark for him to go back to sleep.

Well, his thoughts were too dark, anyway.


	27. Dream - Zachary Altera

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Altera tells Seire about a dream he had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops it's gay part 2

“You know, Concord, I...”

“What?”

Altera suddenly looked away. “No, never mind. It's kind of silly.”

“How is it silly?” Seire asked.

“It just is.”

“Well, I don't think that anything you say is silly.”

“Aside from the time we got heavily drunk and I started philosophizing about the possibility of alternate reality versions of ourselves?”

“That was an outlier; you were drunk.” Seire then leaned forward. “Come on. I promise I won't laugh.”

Altera looked back at him. He had been holding this in for some time, and he did want to tell Seire...even if it was kind of sentimental.

Well, here goes nothing.

“I have...a dream. I had a dream, more like. Last night. Uh...” God, why was he stuttering? “...I had a dream that you and I, we were out in the country. We had a cat, and...a kid. Two kids.” He looked down at his hands. “And I don't know, we were so happy. It felt so real.”

Seire looked at him for a moment, before saying, “It sounds wonderful.”

“Yeah; maybe in an alternate reality it could happen,” Altera said, shrugging. “We can't have kids, though, and you're too busy for us to move to the country, but I suppose a cat isn't too much of a stretch.”

“Then let's get a cat, at least,” Seire said, smiling a little. “Who knows, it could be splendid.”

Altera stared at him. He knew Seire didn't believe in dreams that much. Maybe he was just trying to make him feel less embarrassed about sharing his dreams.

He couldn't help but smile back.


	28. Accuse - Muriel Lewis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Muriel accuses Griffin of leading Flora on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably linked to Old Friends and a Little Jealousy.

“I can't believe you would accuse me of something like that.”

“I'm just stating what I think is the obvious conclusion."

“Obvious–?” Griffin placed a hand on his chest. “You really think that I'm trying to get something out of my friendship with Flora?”

“You're leading her on,” Muriel told him. “Making her think that you like her, when you've only shown up after years of being out of her life.”

“Sometimes people just fall out of communication for a while, it happens!” Griffin then crossed his arms. “Do you really think I'd want to hurt someone I've known since I was a child?"

“People change. And besides, you've_ already_ hurt her. And you'll do it again.”

Griffin growled, getting a little more irked now. “Fine, then maybe I might do it again!” he said. “But it's not like I want to make her life miserable!”

“So am I supposed to think you value her as a friend?” Muriel asked. “Instead of what, someone you want to use to gain inheritance?”

“I'm surprised the thought didn't occur to me,” Griffin said sarcastically.

“I'm telling you to stay away from Flora, I don't want you to hurt her more than you already have,” Muriel went on. “And you are going to do that, right now!”

Griffin regarded her for a moment, before asking, “Did she ask you to do this for her?”

“What?”

“I said, did she ask you to drive me away?”

“Well, no, but–”

“Then is it her feelings you're defending?” Griffin asked. “Or is it yours?”

Muriel found herself unable to reply.


	29. Challenge - Jeremiah Lawton

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremiah decided that he would run away from home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can already see where I was beginning to burn out from writing the drabble.
> 
> Also, the reason why I didn't expound so much on the running away was because a) I don't really know how it's supposed to work and b) I realized I spent too much time on the introduction.

From the very beginning, Jeremiah knew that this would be a challenge.

For nights after he had been bailed out of prison, he paced around his room, wondering about what would happen to those with him. He was almost certain his mad scientist friend would be executed or jailed for life for endangering the lives of everyone on that street block, but he didn't want to think about that. And his family had been able to pay his bail, but what about Baruch? Had his family been able to bail him out too? Did they even want to?

He worried and worried until his parents told him to stop worrying, to forget about his mad scientist friend and his...more-than-friend. (He was lucky they hadn't found out about that bit.) They wanted him to live up to their expectations, to settle for the life they wanted for him.

Needless to say, it made him feel like they didn't really care for him. Not that they hadn't done such things before, but knowing that they didn't want him to care for people “under their status”, even if they were his friends, was the last straw.

Eventually, Jeremiah came to the conclusion that if his parents didn't want him to see them, then he would have to defy his parents once more.

And not just sneak out, since they knew he did that now and were probably looking to catch him in the act now.

He had to run away, in one swift move.

It took much careful planning. He had to pick a night when his parents weren't around and the staff was either busy or asleep. He packed a few of his things and some money, ready to go at any moment. He had to plan an escape route and some contingency plans in case some things went wrong.

The night came. He decided to leave only the shortest of notes, just enough to indicate that he didn't plan on coming back. The hardest part of his escape was getting past the staff, and making no noise while he was at it.

But despite all odds, he had succeeded. And he had escaped.

Yet he knew that the biggest challenge after this would be making it on his own now.

So first, he went to a certain someone's house.


	30. Reunion - Maxine Conklin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maxine and Grye meet once again after a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've stated this before, but the idea of Grye didn't belong to me.
> 
> Also the history of these two is long and complicated.

After a few years without even seeing each other, Maxine and Grye met again on a clear spring day.

Naturally, they hadn't expected to encounter each other. Maxine was out with her family, and Grye was just out on his usual walk. But then their eyes met, and they met for a few seconds, before they both looked away.

Maxine couldn't leave it at that, however. So she turned to her husband Julius, and whispered, “Isn't that Dr. Grye, the professor known for his findings in biology?” (Sounding a little smart, but not too smart.) “We should greet him.”

“You've never been one for rubbing elbows with others,” Julius replied.

“Well, right now, I'm in the mood for it.” Simple as that. “I'd like to see him.”

If Julius was suspicious of her reasons, he didn't voice it. Instead, he went over to Grye with his family in tow, and once he reached him, he cleared his throat.

Maxine watched them go through the formalities of meeting each other for the first time, and then shake hands.

“This is my wife, Maxine; she told me to meet you,” Julius then said, gesturing to her. “It seems she's heard of your work.”

Grye looked her over, his eyebrows rising just a bit. “Is that so?” he asked. Then he held out a hand for her to shake, grinning a little wider. “It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Hazel."

It rolled off his tongue so easily that Maxine couldn't tell whether he was stunned by the development or not. Then again, some people were just better at hiding their emotions. “Likewise,” she said, shaking his hand.

Julius then introduced him to their children, who were a bit shy around him. The two men did most of the talking after that, of course, but Maxine couldn't help but notice that Grye's eyes were meeting hers from time to time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, I finish OCtober 2019 for my TGS OCs! I hope you enjoyed reading this!


End file.
